Page 4 of This Wild Heart

God, it felt good.

I recovered quickly, dipping my head to speak closer to her ear. “The most dangerous thing of all,” I told her. Too close. We were probably too close because I could smell her now, but Anya didn’t move. “A meddling mother, trying to pawn off her last single child to whoever will take him.”

She pulled back with a pointed clearing of her throat, then held up her left hand, flashing the ring in my direction. “No one should be meddling you in my direction. A wasted endeavor if there ever was one.”

“I told her I was getting you a drink because even engaged women need refreshment.” I smiled.

Anya was unimpressed, and I found that I liked that too. “I can see why she’d be a danger to you.”

“I love it when someone tells me I’m right. Say it again.”

She rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips. “A wedding is the most dangerous place of all for someone like you. Dangling a raw steak in front of some ravenous sharks, huh?”

“I’m the steak in this situation, I take it?”

“Naturally. Who wouldn’t want to bag their own offensive player of the year?” Her gaze tracked over me pointedly, a smile widening on her beautiful face. “And now you’ve gone and flashed some forearm. Dear God, you’re practically begging for it. Better be careful out there, Parker.”

“Making fun of a guy for not wanting to give someone false hope. I see how you operate.”

Anya laughed. “I agree. There does seem to be something in the air at this wedding.”

There was a helpless desire to study her face. How hadn’t I met her before this? “Do you think they pumped drugs through the ventilation system?”

She hummed, tapping her nails on the lacquered surface of the bar. “Unlikely. If they did, I should probably be careful too.”

“Nah, I’m completely harmless.”

She snorted. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

I laid a hand on my chest and adopted a wounded expression. “Because you don’t know me. We should change that.”

Anya arched an eyebrow. “Did you miss the part where I said I’m engaged?”

“As friends,” I answered easily. “I’m a friendly guy.”

“Clearly.”

Her dry answer had me grinning. The bartender gave me a questioning look. I held up my empty beer bottle and tilted my head toward Anya. “And whatever she’s having.”

Anya crossed her arms, leaning a hip against the bar as she looked up at me like she was trying to figure me out.

“You’re tall,” I told her.

She whistled. “An observant football player. There are so few of you.”

I laughed, accepting the beer from the bartender. Anya took her champagne, the diamond on her hand sparkling under the lights. I decided not to ask where the future mister was. Emmett had told me his cousin got engaged to one of his teammates, but I hadn’t paid much attention.

I paid attention now. For the first time in months, I felt like the old Parker. The one who didn’t walk around with a grenade inside him—pin pulled, just waiting to go off again. Even if she was engaged and nothing would come from it, there was a sort of relief simply standing here with her, and I wasn’t quite ready to let that go yet.

Carefully, I glanced over my shoulder, and Sheila was still standing where I’d left her but was now in the middle of a conversation with Emmett’s mom, Paige. Her eyes locked on mine, and she smiled innocently.

I raised my hand in a wave, turning back toward Anya, who was watching me with a curious expression.

“Why me?”

Good fucking question. Instead of answering, I took a slow sip of my beer, then set the bottle down with a click. Honesty was the only way to go, and I had a feeling she’d know if I was lying anyway. “They all want to introduce me to some perfect, amazing, just-my-type woman. I don’t want to meet any of them.”

“A pro football player afraid of commitment. How very surprising,” she said with a small tilt of her head.

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